Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo
Leah McSweeney wasn’t in a good place when she filmed the 13th season of The Real Housewives of New York City in fall 2020.
During a new interview, Leah looked back on the hardships she was facing amid production, including the imminent death of her grandmother and the coronavirus pandemic, and she said that she and her castmates didn’t have an easy task when it came to their much-needed discussions about COVID concerns and the ongoing fight for racial equality.
“That sh-t was dark. It was one of the worst years of my life,” Leah explained to Paper magazine on June 4. “I felt pressure to have fun when I was not having fun. It was really hard. We didn’t have an easy task.”
Although Leah has moved on from some of the things she was dealing with in 2020, having to relive everything each Tuesday hasn’t been the most enjoyable experience.
“Last season everyone loved me so much, pretty much, 99% were like, ‘We love Leah.’ But this season, before it even aired, people were already looking for a reason to hate me,” Leah noted. “I think that they build you up to tear you down.”
Luckily, Leah doesn’t get too bothered by her haters.
“I am on the path [to not caring about backlash],” she said. “You have to do that to protect yourself. If you gave a sh-t, how could you do this? You’d be miserable all the time.”
Most recently, Leah faced backlash over her behavior in the Hamptons, which included heated debates with Heather Thomson and Ramona Singer, who she admitted to projecting her mommy issues on. She was actually labeled by many as the villain of RHONY.
“It’s not one of my proudest moments, this trip to the Hamptons,” Leah admitted. “I was like, ‘People think I’m the villain,’ and we’re only four episodes in. I was not even sleeping on that trip.”
While Leah does her best to ignore her online critics, she told the magazine that she has learned to keep her daughter, Kier, off her page, and she also keeps her appearances on RHONY to a minimum.
“I don’t put pictures of my daughter on social media. I have my doubts about having her on [the show] because it’s a sick world and because people don’t know how to act,” she pointed out.
When Leah was then asked which non-New York star of the Real Housewives franchise she is closest to, she named Dolores Catania of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
“I just want to have a lesbian affair with this woman. She is the baddest f-cking b-tch. She is a queen,” Leah gushed. “I could talk about Dolores forever.”
Also during the interview, Leah, who admitted to being “very nervous” about discussing her conversion to Judaism on the show, gave an update on where she stands with the religion.
“I’m not converted yet… it’s in process. I’m actually now doing it at a conservative synagogue, but I love the orthodox rabbi,” she shared.
The Real Housewives of New York City season 13 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.